He started his journalism career in 1992 as a freelance writer for Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s largest daily national newspaper and soon specialised in air transport. Jens joined Aviation Week and Aviation Daily in 2000 as one of the European correspondents. Later his role was expanded to cover international air transport. In 2013 he was named Managing Editor Commercial.
Jens frequently appears on radio and TV to comment on industry matters. In 2003, he received the Hugo Junkers Award of the German aviation press for his coverage of Fairchild Dornier’s bankruptcy. He was named the country’s top travel and air transport writer by the Travel Industry Club three times. Jens graduated from the Munich School of Journalism.
Both easyJet and Ryanair last week said they will significantly increase their capacity to Italian destinations after Italy's civil aviation agency ENAC suspended low-cost airline Volare's operating license for a month due to the carrier's troubled financial situation. Volare suspended operations Nov. 19 and filed for bankruptcy late on Nov. 22 (DAILY, Nov. 23).
Air France-KLM expects to exceed the original targets specified when the two airlines joined forces earlier this year, and Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta said the combined results will be closer to EUR100 million (US$132 million) than the EUR75 million originally forecast. As a result of the merger, from 2008 on the sustainable annual cost reduction will be EUR580 million, he predicted, compared with EUR385-EUR495 million announced in May (DAILY, May 6).
Air Berlin seems poised to become Europe's third-largest low-fare airline along with Ryanair and EasyJet, after the company placed a massive 110-aircraft order to replace and expand its current fleet.
